#40 - It's In The Air

When JK Rowling addressed Harvard graduates recently, her theme was the benefit of failure. The Royal Society for the encouragement of the Arts has recently launched a Glory Of Failure project. And I have been delving deeper and deeper into people's failure experiences through my most recent project - Fail Is Not A Four Letter Word. Traditionally, organisations, celebrities and professionals would be telling us all how to succeed and so this current perspective - on failing being valuable - feels new, fresh, like a change in the tide. Failing, it seems, is in the air.

I'm getting curious about the synchronicity of ideas. Just this morning, a client was speaking passionately about her vision for a project and reflected: "The timing is spot on for this" because her objectives overlap beautifully with key funder objectives. A year ago, there might not have been the interest, a year on, her dream might have seemed like yesterday's news. What makes something a 'hot topic'? Do ideas spread like viruses, caught and spread between one person and another? Or does an energy emerge and create a strong undercurrent, pulling us in certain directions?

We can always find evidence that the world doesn't need our ideas and gifts. Often, when we start telling others our dreams, they will shower us with that kind of evidence ("but what about the credit crunch!?"). Instead, how about we start noticing trends in the world which we get excited about? - buzzwords like 'community cohesion', 'innovation', or 'peer support'. Maybe we can spot practical action like more recycling facilities popping up, shops charging for plastic bags, allotments becoming more popular.

Let's imagine that the world were setting the stage - getting all the players into position, lighting, sound and...cue: YOU! What's it time for you to do?

Action:
Keep a list of the trends you notice this week which inspire you. By each, make a note of one thing you're already doing which links with that trend, and then one thing which could contribute to furthering this trend.

Inquiry:
What's hot? And where do I fit in?

Glory Of Failure - read the signature article for this here: http://www.thersa.org/fellowship/journal/features/the-joy-of-failure

For more about my Fail Is Not A Four Letter Word workshops, visit the Workshops section of my website - www.youinspireme.co.uk. Also, drop me an email if you'd like to put yourself forward to be interviewed on this subject.